“What happens if they collapse and we have a major snowstorm? We don’t know,” he said Friday.

Carillion Canada, the contractor on major Southwestern Ontario highways, has been granted protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

The move comes less than two weeks after Carillon PLC, its British parent company, filed for liquidation.

Carillion Canada has a contract with the Ontario government to maintain highways east, west and south of London, including highways 401, 402 and 403.

Though Southwestern Ontario is enjoying a brief respite from cold this weekend, Doug Gillham, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, predicted in an online forecast that winter will return with a vengeance.

“February (and into March) has the potential to be similar to what we experienced during late December and early January. There’s a chance for February to be a memorable month for winter weather, especially from the Great Lakes to Atlantic Canada,” he said.

Celso Pereira, spokesperson for Transportation Minister Kathryn McGarry, who was just appointed in a recent cabinet shuffle, downplayed the urgency of the situation and said Carillion’s CCA filing is “a normal part of the financial stability process.”

“Carillion Canada has assured us that they intend to continue to provide highway maintenance services uninterrupted for the remainder of the winter, so our path forward remains the same,” said Pereira.

But MPP Monte McNaughton (PC – Lambton-Kent-Middlesex), whose riding covers a large swath of the roads maintained by Carillion, said the Liberal government’s casual “business-as-usual” stance isn’t good enough.

“We need the minister to tell us what the backup plan is,” he said.

“It’s the middle of winter and the last thing motorists need to hear is that the company that ensures safety on the roads may go out of business.”

Bradley said he’s received feedback from the public that highway maintenance has deteriorated over the years.

“The only way that the private sector can make money is to cut back on the level of service and the number of employees,” he said,

Bradley said there should be a review of the privatization of highway service in Ontario, pointing to a scathing auditor general’s report in 2015 that slammed the level of service.

Carillion’s website said attempts at short-term financing fell through after the collapse of the parent company caused “unexpected liquidity challenges” for the Canadian firm.

“However, we expect to operate business-as-usual and without any interruption to our services under the protection of the initial order,” Simon Buttery, chief executive of the Canadian operations, said in an emailed statement.

The company says it employs more than 6,000 people in Canada, handling road maintenance for 40,000 kilometres of highway in Alberta and Ontario.

Carillion Canada said it will use the court protection to stabilize operations and consider options to satisfy creditors and the court.